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<blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 3576336" data-attributes="member: 16574">No observers -- if you're going to watch for more than a few (which is subjective, but generally less than 15) minutes you have to play. This goes for girlfriends, family members, friends in from out of town, and anyone else who might show up to a game session who's not part of the normal group. This has been my strict policy for many years and it's always worked well, and has even managed to recruit occasional new regulars into the group -- &quot;non-gamers&quot; who wouldn't normally have wanted to play but once they were &quot;forced&quot; to had enough fun that they decided to keep coming back. (Note that I've always run games in non-public places; in a public place I imagine I'd have to be a litle more flexible with this rule, but I suspect I'd still strongly encourage anyone watching us for more than a few minutes to sit down and join in the game rather than stand on the side watching -- you'll have more fun, and won't be as much of a distraction from the other players.)And yes it helps that I run a casual-style game that doesn't involve a lot of complicated plots that carry over from session to session, that I don't expect the players to be experts on the rules (or even to know them at all), and that I tend to keep a file of pregen &quot;extra&quot; characters on hand (although we've also had &quot;guest players&quot; take on nonconventional roles such as 0-level pack-bearers or men-at-arms, intelligent swords, mounts, or familiars, captured/charmed monsters, 2 players running a single character as a team, and so on).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="T. Foster, post: 3576336, member: 16574"] No observers -- if you're going to watch for more than a few (which is subjective, but generally less than 15) minutes you have to play. This goes for girlfriends, family members, friends in from out of town, and anyone else who might show up to a game session who's not part of the normal group. This has been my strict policy for many years and it's always worked well, and has even managed to recruit occasional new regulars into the group -- "non-gamers" who wouldn't normally have wanted to play but once they were "forced" to had enough fun that they decided to keep coming back. (Note that I've always run games in non-public places; in a public place I imagine I'd have to be a litle more flexible with this rule, but I suspect I'd still strongly encourage anyone watching us for more than a few minutes to sit down and join in the game rather than stand on the side watching -- you'll have more fun, and won't be as much of a distraction from the other players.) And yes it helps that I run a casual-style game that doesn't involve a lot of complicated plots that carry over from session to session, that I don't expect the players to be experts on the rules (or even to know them at all), and that I tend to keep a file of pregen "extra" characters on hand (although we've also had "guest players" take on nonconventional roles such as 0-level pack-bearers or men-at-arms, intelligent swords, mounts, or familiars, captured/charmed monsters, 2 players running a single character as a team, and so on). [/QUOTE]

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